Regional force might intervene

West African countries are considering creating a peacekeeping force under the auspices of their economic community (ECOWAS) to intervene in Liberia if negotiations between the government and rebels fail, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal said on Friday.

Calling for an immediate ceasefire, Wade, who is the current ECOWAS chairman, told a news conference in Cote d'Ivoire's capital, Yamoussoukro, that his colleagues believe negotiations should be given first priority.

"We do not rule out the possibility of sending a peacekeeping force in Liberia, but we first call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire. Then, we shall consider whether there is a need to organise a round table with all the Liberian political parties. We hope that President Charles Taylor will accept to participate," the PANA news agency quoted Wade as saying.

He said that he had been mandated by the region to seek the backing of European countries and the US towards the sub-regional organisation's strategy to end the latest Liberian crisis.

Meanwhile government forces continued to beat back rebels but fresh skirmishes were reported in Tubmanburg, Bomi county over the weekend.

At least 70,000 internally displaced people and their host communities in the Liberian town of Gbarnga, 224 km north of the capital, Monrovia, fled fighting between government troops and armed opposition fighters last week, an inter-agency assessment mission reported on Thursday.

A source in Monrovia said Gbarnga, which the armed opposition fighters of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) claimed to have taken last week, was regained by government troops mid last week. The LURD, who according to the government started fighting in 1999, have recently intensified their war against President Charles Taylor to overthrow him.